Icecream!

           Beats peanuts any day! Korean Air is doing snack time RIGHT. First of all my experience with China icecream is, well…lets just say one of the flavors—I kid you not—is red bean. Ok so picture red bean flavored icecream on a stick and you have what I am used to for Asia icecream. Now…fastforward to the plane today. The nice Korean ladies with their teal outfits and stiff neck ties offer me icecream. It was ‘Red Carpet Cheesecake’. It was soo yummy. There were chucks of REAL cheesecake in there with strawberry swirl stuff. If you can imagine how excited my face looked during my first icecream-on-airplane experience….you should have seen the little Korean kid’s face sitting next to me after his mom fed him two cups of it! ☺

what I did on a plane for 14 hours besides sleep...

Jess---guess what I watched on the plane?? Celine Dion’s ‘A New Day’ performance. The lady next to me gave me some funny looks but I couldn’t help using my water bottle as a microphone and mouthing the words along—wish you had been sitting next to me!! ☺

Thank you B & V for your encouraging voicemail!

today...

...I went to the same gate that I went to when I got on this plane on July 9th. I am in the same internet cafe in the Seoul airpot that I was when I posted this picture before. But this time the second leg is not taking me to Beijing. Cambodia and Thailand here I come!

    I am so excited to embark on this journey--using my savings, love of people and places, and the prospect of a job to fuel my trip--I covet your prayers for safety of person and things and logistics of transportation and housing. 

((ps. mom and dad- two seats open next to me, I laid down...out of the 14 hours, I slept on and off for about 10 hours--that could be a personal best for me so far))

back in action

Thursday- said bye to J,C, & S, and so good to see Amy before she left. Keep up with her here. Yes, Max, I made sure I early VOTED  :) 

Friday- Swing danced in the basement under the disco ball

Saturday- golfed, went to a birthday party, and cheered for the bulldogs

Four years ago, I was in China when this little lady was born. She's growing up: 

her brother is one:

Fun times with Jess!

and I love Seth!

HOME

SWEET

HOME

dont know where to start

 ....so much has gone on!  Last night I got to watch the closing ceremonies from the TV in the VIP lounges and then go on the balcony to see the fireworks! 

    Today--with the Shuang Experience Center interns (i worked with previously) --we took a tour of old Hutong's today in a rickshaw! :) Got to visit the home of a Chinese man who had lived there in his 200 yr old Hutong home for 55 years. He was so warm spirited. I would have like to have tea with him and listen to stories of how Beijing has changed over the years.

  We had a big intern lunch at a Sichuan Restaurant--- it was so fun and lots of toasts and cheering. The smiling faces and laughter filled my soul. We watched the video of the summer with photos and footage--(I can't wait to show you family--it will be my only way to 'tour' you through the Experience Center, as they began tearing the building down today!! : ( 

    Our bosses spoke and gave out certificates, then there was a lot of crying and hugging. It was heartbreaking to see some of the guys getting teary eyed too. What an amazing summer for us. What an amazing summer for China. Well done Beijing!

   I'm off to pack.

egg craft

this guy carves into the hollow eggs with a small knife. this picture doesn't do it justice, but he was able to do this mans face from the picture!

this morning

We were having some computer trouble. So we took this as anopportunity for a ipod/picture time break.

Then one of the guys was so sweet...he brought us coffee! :)

"we have to drink it out of the hole because he forgot to bring the suck pipe" -Chelsea

better known as a straw .... :)

My Beijing Birthday

Last night at the Shuang Center - Howard (a manager and friend) had a showing of a documentary he made. You can check it out here: http://www.mybeijingbirthday.com/index1.php#trailer

lovin' the watercube

pics

Things are busy. Great times, great people, great fun.

USA vs China wheelchair rugby

cute kid in the park- American flag pin

The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival was tonight. Great dinner with friends and beautiful walk through hutong buildings of old Beijing :)

kebab, anyone?

what's the craziest thing you've eaten?

china athletes

i met her the other day...

...now she's a Champion! 

Fifty-two-year-old Barbara Buchan of the United States displays her gold medal in the awarding ceremony of women's individual pursuit(LC3-4/CP3) of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games cycling track event on Sept. 10, 2008. Buchan won gold medal in the event with 4 mins 15.848 secs.(Xinhua/He Junchang)

USA Mens Wheelchair Basketball Team!

great great great

           So i see the back of a jersey that says "PEMBERTON" in the Paralympic Village. So I can't help but ask the athelete--any relation to Dr. John Pemberton who created the Coca-Cola suryp formula? And he said yes! That it was his great great great Uncle!

Thomas John (T.J.) Pemberton "drove an ATV off the side of a cliff and broke my leg in 9 places". He continues to rock climb and kyak--and is competing in the Beijing Paralympic Games in Archery. He was gracious enough to give me a ticket and I got to watch him, as well as Lindsey Carmichael, and Kevin Stone all USA athletes qualify for the next round in Archery. GO USA!!!

meet Kai

     A German Paralympic Athlete who is a 3 time medalist in wheelchair tennis!!

here he is talking with one of my managers.

That's a good swimmer!

What caught my eye was the wheelchair beside the pool that had two prosthetic legs on it--shoes and everything. I took a double look because they were so real-looking. I lingered a little longer to see a man finish swimming a lap. I watched a moment more as he rested before lifting himself out of the pool. His legs lasted only to above the knees. He dried off and the proceeded to put the prosthetics back on so that he could get into the wheelchair. I share this story so you can get an idea of the amazing things I get to see around the Paralympic Village. Now, that's a good swimmer!

blind soccer

Got to watch a few minutes of Chinese blind soccer practice. How you may ask? There are noise makers inside of the soccer balls. The teammates would make a noise to let the player who was dribbling in and out of them where they were. I watched for approximately 15 minutes. Only once did I see a dribbler run into one of the athletes standing as a post. This stuff is way interesting to me.

new office

Here is the office onsite at the Paralympic Village:

There are two main cafeterias in the Paralympic Village: one is for the athletes and has three double sided walk in refrigerators. The Staff cafeteria has two walk in refrigerators. In addition to the behind the scenes paper work-inventory and delivery forms--our team is in charge of keeping these refrigerators stocked. So, we put on big red jackets and refill the refrigerators. My co-worker, Zhu Yinhuan (Chelsea) and I have a lot of fun! :)

pizza in china

Step 1: Call in order - usually speak Chinglish

Step 2: Pizza boy comes on bike with warmer box on the back

Step 3: He brings it to your door.

Step 4: You open the box

Step 5: enjoy!

 

guanxi

   Yea for BICF on Sundays. Blessed by worship and teachings. Sang Hosanna. Took Communion. Thank you Jesus for this sweet reminder of your body broken for us. And for the blood you shed for all mankind. Good to reunite with the fellow believers here.

   Made some good contacts today and on the subway I met the gentleman who befriended me on the bus ride to the 798 Art district back on July 20th. It is amazing to me that over a month later on a subway in a city of 16 million I run into a guy that I met on a bus. Anyway, he introduced me to his wife and we exchanged contact info. This may be crazy. But I feel a real connection to these people I have been meeting, especially the ones I run into more than once. I hope I am able to keep in touch with them. 

   

   Tonight after work, I walked to the Olympic Green. I got to see some of the interns that are still here and have not yet returned to school. You should have seen the look on Jason's face. He was so happy! Here is a video of him telling my parents hello before I left working at the Shuang center. *Notice his glasses are broken. They were still broken when I saw him today. I think it adds to his character. But if I am able to visit them again on Tuesday Im going see if I can help him get them fixed. Anyway--this guy was so much fun to work with and would teach me new Chinese words and I would teach him English words. Don't be jealous, but we even have a secret hand shake. Oh, there is nothing like Zhong Guo (Chinese) peng yous (friends)!

Breakfast of Champions

   Its pretty necessary that I start my day with cereal-or at least something to eat for breakfast. So, I brought over three bags of cereal this time! This picture was taken last time--but the milk and OJ are the same I kinds I have now. But...this time I forgot to get a bowl and a spoon- so this morning I ate my cereal from a coffee mug and with a fork! Necessity is the mother of invention.

 What's your go-to-breakfast food? 

Beijing is rocking my socks off...(again)!!!

   Ok, so I had a good first day of work getting situated. I am now working in Venue Operations inside the Paralympic Village. The Village is where the athletes stay. There is apartment style housing, a rather large cafeteria and a fitness area that includes a gym, outdoor swimming pool, tennis and basketball courts, etc. So when a colleague gave me a tour around, I couldn’t help but take a few photos with some of the athletes I encountered. The women’s USA volleyball team was especially happy to receive BOG cards! You may not be able to tell from the photo, but most of them have at least one prosthetic leg.

 

      So around 5:30 I get a text message that there might be a ticket for me-and that I should call the boss-boss. Whoa. 20 minutes later I am in a car on my way to the Olympic Green! Because of the credentials the “Olympic” car has, we are able to drive onto the Green…ps this is very rare, and even more rare on the evening of the Opening Ceremonies. The driver was pretty convincing-and he even tried to get the car past some guards that were clearing the way for the VIP buses coming through--to no avail. But I was more than taken care of and was a short walk to the gate I needed to meet at. The boss-boss himself gave me my ticket and showed me the way to…the box seats. Whoa, whoa, whoa. How blessed can one girl get? Did I mention yet how amazing the Opening was?? I am amazed by artistic work of the director- Zhang Yimou. The colors, music, costuming and choreography left me in awe. I was emotionally moved by the wheel chair athlete who was able to pull himself up to the top of the Bird’s Nest in order to light the Olympic flame! A magnificent night- of which I am extremely grateful.

 

it was soo good meeting up with my past managers! (Craig, Erica, and Sohpie) 

Below is the torch being lit- if you look in the top right of the big screen you see the guy pulling himself and wheelchair up to the base of the big torch.